Railway-track structure



g 6 1930- R. L. GILLlSPiE 1,774,263

v RAILWAY TRACK STRUCTURE Fiied Dec. 22, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 26, 1930. R. L. GILLISPIE 1,774,263

RAILWAY TRACK STRUCTURE Filed Dec. 22, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gm aw 22. z. fiz'll lispaz gag/45% Aug. 26, 1930. R. GILLISPIE 1,774,263

RAILWAY TRACK STRUCTURE Filed Dec. 22, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 3mm .22 l.

. Patented Aug. 26, 1930 alloy. Another practice N T T E AT NT; OFFICE;

RAYMOND L, GILLIsrIE; 0F srrEE 'roN, PENNSYLVANiAQAS S IGiNOR to BETHLEHEM e STEELCOMPANY 'BAILWAY-TRAGK s'rnuc'runn V Application'filed December 22, 1928. Serial No. 327,768-

- This invention relates to track structures, such as frogs and crossings, which comprise rail members integral with a center piece.

It is old to prepare eral sort by casting center piece in such a way as the main body of the to embed the ends of the rail members therein, thus effecting an integral union of the rail inembers andcenter piece. In the cast portion of such structures a depression or intersection point this depression is fitted a center platehaving wearing qualities superior 'to those of the rails. Various methods have been employed to secure the center plates inv position.- A

common practice'has been to fit the plate in a'pocket provided for that purpose and secure it in place by'means of bolts or wedges and fillthe space andthe walls of the pocket with a soft metal has been to make the center plateian integral part of the track structure by casting a metalbody around the ends of the rail members and the center plate. Another common practice has been to cast a wear resisting center comprising a body portion provided with integral arms to "tween the end of a rail and the frogcenter,

whichthe track rails are bolted.

It is old'to make track strucutures having 1iail members integral with the center piece y casting the whole structure, rail members as well as center piece; the whole structure thus being a single casting.

My invention is based upon the idea 0 first forming a center piece and then securing rail members thereto in such a way as to form an integral uniontherebetween;

More particularly, my invention comprises a track structure having a cast center piece and rolled rail members welded thereto. r

Herein it is desired tov set forth a specific embodiment for thepurpose of illustrating the invention. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is aplan View of the :t'rogcenter with,

the rail members welded thereto;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation-of the-weld be- Fig. 3 shows the undercut at the end of structures of this genpocket is. formed at the ofthe gage lines, and into 9-9 of Fig.6;

between the hard. center and a guard flange are casting such structures entire, that is to say, by directly f flanges depth of the thewebot' the trog center under the head Fig. 5is a sectiontaken'on the line 55 of Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is aplan view of-the finished frog;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of Fig. 6; 1 c

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the ter taken on the line 8-8' of Fig. 9;

Fig. 9 is an end section taken on the line 'Fig.= 10 is an end section taken on line "1010 of Fig. 6; v

Fig. 11-is anendsection taken on the line 11-11 ofFig-l; and a I Fig. 12'is a view of the rail members abut;- ting a frog center prior to welding and showing the cutaway portions at the ends ofthe rails.

Rail members 14 are welded to the cast frog "center15 to make a complete frog. Rails (14. are of the rolled grooved railjtype and comprise a base flange 16, web 17 head '18, v flange 19. The head and guard separated from each other by a groove or flangeway 20,;in which the flange of the car wheel isadapted to travel.

frog. cen 1 The cast center is preferably made of alloy steel hardened by heat treatment and having wearing qualities superior to those of the rolled rails and comprises base flanges 21 which serve as spiking ledges, vertical webs 22, head or tread portion 28, and guard 24. The head and guard flanges are separated from each, other to form a groove or flangeway 25 in which the flange of a car wheel travels. The cross section at the ends of the cast center is practically the samecas that of the rail. Crosswebs 26 between the vertical webs, and outsidewebs 27 are provided' to stifl'enthe whole structure and act as gussets- The table portion 28 is raised above the normal height of the rail grooves I 20 at the point of intersection and gradually tapers down towards the ends to the normal grooves of the connecting rails so that a car wheel when approaching an intersection in a track structurewill have its tread elevated above the face of the head of the rail to eliminate pounding and wear due to the wheel tread passing over the interrupted rail heads at the intersection. The frog or crossing center is of the same height asthe abutting rails, getting its support directly structure, thereby lessening the chances of becoming loosened from the rest of the structure. Thecenter piece abuts the endsof the rails at the top portion only, the webs 22 and flanges 21 being undercut to provide a clearance 29 between the webs of the center and the I webs of the rails for a purpose hereinafter explained' The ends of theicenter are cut tothe corresponding angles of the rail ends and converge to apoint intermediatethe heads of the rails. The top sides 30 of the center are straight, the length and direct-ion of these lines being. determined by the outside lines of the guard portions19 of the rails and upon the angle of thestructure. The outside lines of the base flanges are determined in a simlia-r manner. 1

Priorto welding the center piece to the rail members, the ends of the rails and the ends of the center are cut to the correct angle and the guard portions 19 at the ends of the rails are cut away as shown at 31 to provide I a clearance betweenthe ends of the rails and the center. These cuts together with the undercuts 29 at the ends of the vertical'webs '22 provide spaces between the pieces to be joined for the welding -material. Similar spaces 32 are provided between the base flanges 21 of the center and the base flanges 16 of the' rails.

The welds are preferably made by the well known thermit process in which the rails and center are set up about six inches above the bed, leveled, aligned and clamped in place.

-The rail ends and center are then warmed with a torch and heated wax is roughly applied by handover the joints and then trimmed and smoothed to conform to the desired finished welds 33. The parts to be welded are then ready for the box and sand moulding commonly employed in this process. The

' box is set in place and as the sand moulding is ready'forpouring.

planed on" level with the progresses, the heating gate cores, pouring gate cores and risers are set in place. The mould is vented and is ready for preheating v which may be done by'means of a large blow torch or] other suitable means. The war: forms are mostly consumed in the preheating and very little runs out of the mould. The heating gates are then pluggedand the mould the thermit is'nielted in a crucible and in a brief time is ready for pouring into the mould. After pouring, the mould is left to cool and the frogis taken'out and cleaned and the gates'burned off. The welds are then I head or guard of the'rail, the'b ottom 'fin'ished likewise, and the flangeways planed'out as shown in Fig.

from the ties and track sub- After the preheating somewhat high in silicon have been found to be very effective for the cast center pieces. The following steels have been found to be suitable for this purpose:

Carbon I to .70 Manganese; .70 to 1.00 Phosphorus .04 Max. Silicon 1. 90 to 2.20

The center pieces cast from these steels are preferably heat treated, as for example. in the following manner: After cleaning they are heated to a temperature of about 1500 F.

and are then quenched in oil. being allowed to remain in the oil bath until their temperature is well below the critical range, say about 7 00 F. The length of time of quench will vary, depending upon the size of the casting. Following the quenching operation the cast center piece is placed in a furnace and reheated to a temperature of the order of 800 F. to 1100 F. and is allowed to soalr in this furnace to thoroughly equalize its temperature. It is then allowed tOCOOl'IIl the furnace to atmospheric temperature.

Center pieces of the above steels and hus h at treated have a sorbitic microstructure,

being composed mostly of sorbite or sorbite and troostite. The Brincll hardness ranges between 325 and 375.

My invention possesses certain distinct advantages over the prior art. In the prior practice of casting the main body of the center piece in such manner as to embed the ends of rail members in the casting, the resulting body cannot be successfully heat treated for the purpose of increasing the physical properties of the center piece. a feature which is so important because of the severe service to which center pieces are exposed. There are several factors which prevent successful. heat treatment of such prior structures. One is due to the fact that the composition used in the center piece is different from that used in the rail members secured thereto and the treatment which would be successful with one would not be'applicable to the other. Then too, the form and size of such structure militates against its heat treatment. The larger the body being heat treated the more difficult. But the shape of the structure. with its differently formed part and with parts'of radically different dimensions, is an even greater handicap to successful heat treat- -'1nent. To quench such a structure, with its piece superior to those of the rails. Steels extended rail members, without distorting the form thereof, is well nigh impossible.

My invention avoids these difficulties. As the center pieceis cast separate from the rail members it can be heat treated while still independent of them. It can be given just the best adapted to thematerial heat treatment of which it is composed. Its weight'is much less than that ofthe combined center piece and rail members and there is not the diversity of form and dimensionswith the result that inheat treatment 'there is much less danger of distortion.

My invention also possesses similar advantages over that type of which the rail members'are cast as integral parts with the center p1ece. Obviously the vmass of metal and diversity of shape and d mensions in that type of structure offers the same difiiculty in preventing distortion dur- Another advantage ing the heat treatment. over this prior type'is in the simplification of the foundry practiceg'obviously it is a much simpler foundry problem to cast the center piece by itself rather than as a structure with integral rail members.

- Vmuch less metal must be handled in the founconstructed in accordance dry. A further result ng from limiting the use of speclal alloy steels to the centerpiece in contra-distinction to the prior practice of casting the rail members integral with the center piece, where the special steels necessary for the center piece must also be used for the rail members. 'A still further advantage comes from the use with my invention of rolled rail members of the desired size and section. which can be selected to match the rails to which they are to be joined. When the rail members are cast integral with the center piece it is usually necessary that the rail members be machined to adapt them to the less uncertain in quality because of its irregular shape and sections. The saving of material and weight over prior methods is also an important factor of economy.

Tests have been made to determine the comparative strength of the welds, with the result that the welds prove to be stronger than the rail members.

Although I havedescribed but one preprior art structure in advantage is the economy from the ends of said center,

The center when weldedto the rail ferred method of making the Welds, it is to be understood that other methods may be employed if desired and'while I have shown my invention in but one form it will be ob-' vious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such placed thereupon as are imposed by thepri or art, or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims. I r v Having thus described myinvention What I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

*1. A rail structure comprising a precast limitations shall be metal center-piece of sorbitic microstruc- I ture composed of steel containing a moderately high content of silicon and rolled' metal rail members integrally secured to the precast center-piece. I 2. A rail structure comprising a cast metal center-piece havlng a sorbitic micro-structure and rolled metal rail membersintegral- .ly secured thereto. Then also obvlously 3-. A rail structure metal center-piece and metalrails-integral-v ly secured to the precast center-piece said center-piece having the physical characteristicsdue to heat treatment.

comprising a precast,

4; A railstructure comprising a cast metal center-piece having a silicon content of ap-' proximately 2% and having a sorbitic microstructure, and rolled metal members welded thereto.

5. In a railway track structure comprising a cast center having. flangeways wheels in its head portion, rails extending the head portion of said rails being in contact only along the upper portions of said ends, and transverse welds uniting the ends of the rails to the center which is of the same height as the rails.

6. In a railway track structure comprising a cast center having base flanges, flangeways forwheels in its head tical webs connecting the base flanges and its head portion, rails extending from the ends of said center, the webs and base flanges IOO' for V portion, and verf of said center being spaced from the; ends of p .the rails, and transverse welds uniting the base flanges, webs, and said head portion of the center to the rails,said center being of the same height as the rails and similar. insection to the rails. i

v7. A rail structure comprising a precast" metal center-piece sufficiently small in dimensions to be quenched, and rolled metal rail. members integrally secured thereto.

' In testimony whereof I hereunto affixmy signature.

' RAYMOND L. r GILLISPIE. 

